The BEST vacation EVER!

Last Monday (April 25), we packed up our car, loaded the kids, and headed east to Sidney Nebraska (no, this is not the vacation). The kids traveled much better than I expected, thankfully. Jordan's older sister and her family moved out there last year for her husbands job at Cabela's in the corperate office. They bought a house that needs some remodeling so we went out for a few days so Jordan could help with some work. We hung out and had a good time and Wyatt loved getting to play with his cousin Stella.



He LOVED getting to play with Stella

Hugging Raider

Running around with Guss, Raider and Stella

Doing some work

Playing softball with Shane and Trevor




Early Saturday morning (think 2 am early), Jordan and I got in the car, took the 3 hour drive to Denver and caught a flight to Miami for a cruise. Jordan and I have never been on a cruise before and we have to admit....we are hooked for sure! On our way home Jordan actually labeled it "the PERFECT vacation". And I totally agree. Our cruise went to the Bahamas. We went to Nassau, Cococay (the cruise line's island), and Key West, FL. We are SO SO SO greatful to Shane and Meagan for letting us leave the kids with them so we could do this. The cruise didn't actually leave till Monday (the 2nd), but the flights were much cheaper on Saturday so we went a few days early, which we didn't mind one bit. I was in heaven being able to spend a whole week with just Jordan. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the entertainment was great! It was quite possibly one of the most relaxing weeks of my life. Feel free to skip the writing and just look at pictures. The writing is more for our memory. Anyway, here's how the trip went:


Saturday-

Got to Miami, rented a car, did some shopping, ate dinner at a great BBQ place and just hung out at the hotel.


Sunday-
Went to church in the morning, went to Miami beach and walked around, ate late lunch/early dinner at Carlyle Cafe, went back to hotel and watched forensics/crime shows (i know we're weird), went for a late night run for some food at Pollo Tropical (it was pretty good)

At church

Our stroll on the beach. I wish I could have peeled my shirt too, but that would have been a little weird (not that we didn't see some topless sunbathers on this trip)

Lunch at the Carlyle Cafe


Monday-
Got some breakfast, did some last minute shopping, drove to Miami airport to return the car and took a shuttle to the Port of Miami to get on the boat. We got to the port about 3 hours before we left. We ate lunch on the boat, walked around the boat a little bit, put our swimsuits on and headed out to the pool deck. There was a party on the pool deck for embarkation so that was fun. We were out there for a while. Then we walked around the boat some more, had dinner, and went to a few entertaining shows in the evening. There was a comedian that was hilarious, we learned how to Salsa dance, went to Finish that Lyric, and ate some pizza. While we were at the Salsa class, a couple came up and introduced themselves to us. They were keeping their eyes out for some other LDS people and apparently we look like some. Anyway, we went out to the pool deck and talked with them for about an hour. They are from Virginia and are a really nice couple. We spent a lot of time with them throughout the week and it turns out their room was only like 5 doors down from ours. We finally crashed at about 1:30.

Getting ready to leave Miami

The embarkation party...basically just everyone at the pool deck

Goodbye

It was incredibly windy that first night on the ship. We went out to the front and literally had to hold on to the railing as we turned the corner it was so windy. So I took a picture of Jordan with the wind.


Tuesday-
We got to Nassau at about 8. We woke up, Jordan went to workout while I got showered. When he got back we ate some breakfast and headed out to the island around 10. We were scheduled to go Parasailing at 11 but it got cancelled, so we decided to rent a scooter and ride around. We went to a beach, but got lost on the way. A forklift was driving by and told us they would show us where to go. We finally made it to the beach and had a great time! Beautiful weather and beautiful beach! Around 2 we headed back to the boat for some lunch but when we got back to the scooter, we noticed it had a flat tire. It was quite a drive back to the port, but luckily a nice local man gave us a ride in his truck. Jordan was in the bed of the truck with the scooter and I rode in the truck with the guy....he gave me a little tour on the way back. We ate lunch on the boat and headed back out to the scooter again. They gave us a different one this time. We went for a ride around Nassau and explored the backroads. They drive on the left side of the road so it was quite scary, but we survived. We drove past the US Embassy and there men with machine guns outside and they made us pull over (we didn't know it was the embassy yet). After we passed that we drove through some jungle areas and saw some cool houses. Then we headed back to the port. We stopped at a beach and Jordan went in the water while I stayed with our stuff. While he was in the water he said "Brooke, throw me the camera. I think a swordfish just swam by. A local that was in the water heard him and asked, "Swordfish? what did it look like?" Jordan said "blue and silver". The local got serious and said "That's not swordfish, that's baracuda. That thing will cut you like razors". He then grabbed his son and quickly got out of the water. Jordan was worried and got out of the water too. The baracuda swam right past Jordan about a foot away, but luckily didn't touch him. After that we got back to the port, returned the scooter and got ourselves ready for dinner. It was formal night so that was fun to get all dressed up. After dinner we changed and headed back out to Nassau. There was a Senor Frogs there so we went over there, snapped a few pictures, and then walked around. Most everything was closed by this time so we just got back on the boat and went to a few shows. We did Michael Jackson trivia and didn't do too bad. We knew more songs than we got right but we didn't have the exact song name so it didn't count. We did a few dancing gigs, and finally headed to bed. WOW, that was long!


This was our boat at the dock






I am a lucky woman to get this guy :) He's sexy!
This is the site where Jordan spotted the baracuda...infact he might be telling me to throw him the camera as I am taking this picture.

Returning the scooter....I might add that this is Jordan's favorite picture. He loves his backwards, crooked helmet. It was not planned.

Isn't he handsome?


We didn't go in...there was a $10 cover/person
We only had a half hour before we had to be back on the boat, plus we dont drink. No brainer.

Me with Senor Frog

And Jordan with him too...


Wednesday-
We got to Cococay at about 10. We had to take a boat called a tender boat from the ship to the island. This is the cruise lines private island and it was small so there was not much exploring. We spent most of the day snorkeling. We found ourselves a nice area and took a few pictures before heading over to get our snorkeling gear. While we were snorkeling we were lucky enough to see some great aquatic wildlife. I am paranoid when I see dark spots in water (thanks to Jaws...it's ruined me). Anyway, I saw a dark spot coming towards us and I said "Jordan, do you see that dark spot? It's coming towards us". He just blew me off because he thinks I'm paranoid. Anyway, I finally said "Jordan, I think that's a stingray". Sure enough, a stingray was swimming in the shallow water and came up swam around us for quite a while. A few minutes later Jordan saw a shark and it too swam around us for a little while. We got some good pictures of both of them. We bought a few waterproof cameras and used them a lot, but we haven't gotten them developed yet. Around 2 we went back to the main area of the island for a BBQ. Then it was back to some more snorkeling. This time we went to the main snorkeling area where there was a sunken plane, and a sunken ship. There were lots of cool fish and we definitely got most of our sun that day! We headed back to the ship around 4 (the ship left the island at 5), took a nap and went to dinner around 6. After dinner we went out to the deck and took some pictures of the sunset...it was beautiful! That night we went to a juggling/comedy show, karaoke, and a love and marriage game show. There was a midnight buffet on the pool deck that night so we went to that too. Finally we went to bed around 1 am.

I wish that guy wasn't in the picture


One of our little friends...

Me by the shark

This is a good picture of our shark friend...

He's so cute snorkeling...he had lots of fun!

We had to get a sunset picture together

Isn't it beautiful?


Thursday-
We got to Key West around 10 as well. We woke up, ate some breakfast, and headed out to our last stop. We booked a sea-doo tour and were able to ride the sea-doo around the whole island. It took about 1 1/2 hours and it was seriously so much fun. There aren't any pictures of the tour on here cuz we used the waterproof camera, but we got some fun ones for sure. After the ride we walked around a little bit, and then headed back for some lunch. After lunch we went back out, hopped on a boat and went parasailing. It's definitely not what I thought it would be. It was so calm and relaxing up there. I thought it would be scary and crazy, but it definitely wasn't. After parasailing we stopped and bought key lime pie on a stick dipped in chocolate...it was DELICIOUS! By this time we were pretty scorched and all sunned out. We went back to the ship, took a nap again, and had some dinner. After dinner we went to a Battle of the Sexes game. I must say, I am proud of myself. One of the challeneges had like 5 guys and 5 girls and you had to run to a cup, while holding a keychain between your bum cheeks, and then drop the keychain in the cup. The first one to do it won. I was the first one for the girls and I got it on the first try. It was awesome! Everyone erupted in laughter and the rest of the night people remembered me as the one who won the keychain contest. Apparently that had never been done before on the first try. I've got some skills. :) After that we hit the end of a comedy show that was good and we we ended the night at the Quest game show. We stayed at that for about 45 minutes and then finally went to bed. We were so sad to be done with the cruise but we both were excited to see our kids soon.

On the boat waiting for our turn to parasail

Don't we look so small?

Getting dipped in the water either going up or coming down

This is Ryan and Karen....the couple we met the first night. Aren't they cute in their matching outfits?


Friday-
We woke up and were off the ship by 9. We booked our return flight for 5:30 in the evening which was a big mistake. We thought we would spend the day in Miami and hang out till our flight left but when we got back to Miami on Friday it was so cloudy and ugly and pouring rain. So we got to the airport at like 1. It was lovely

Just waiting in the terminal


Here are a couple of videos ....


A little snippit of our scooter ride




Heading out of Miami...yay!


We are so sad it is over and we LOVED every minute of it. We are hooked now and decided that we definitely need to become regular cruisers. We sure missed the kids, but it was definitely nice to have a week without them and just spend some great quality time with Jordan. I love you Jordan and thank you for the trip of a lifetime!


P.S. Sorry this is like the longest post in the history of mankind!